"It's really matured and developed and carefully grown, organically grown, in that it was never planned to be more than a one-time-only celebration for WDST's 25th anniversary four years ago," Chetkof says.

"Everyone talks about the vibe, how it's such a cool vibe. When you go there, everybody is relating to each other in such a nice way that it's a really nice community of people."

This year he says there are even more attractions, more things to do that aren't music-related, including the Awareness Village, which he says is about "higher consciousness, personal and planetary."

And, of course, there's the talent.

"The thing that I'm most proud of is the bands, the lineup. That's really what gets better and that's really why people come. The music is so good," Chetkof says.

"We've really increased the quality of the bands, and I take a lot of pride in the programming. Our radio station is passionate about the music, and having Warren Haynes, an artist, help program it and co-produce with us gives it the kind of realness that translates on the stage and into the audience."

This is Mountain Jam's fourth year and it's already one of Rolling Stone magazine's "Best Fests: Eight Worth the Trip." What do you think you've done in the past four years that made Rolling Stone say, "Hey, check this out?"

It just seems to continue to grow in a nice, organic way. We've had great lineups every year as far as the artists and the bands are concerned. The vibe of the event, the spirit of the event, is really cool and I think it's all like-minded people, both onstage and off-stage, and it's a beautiful place to have a show and things just kinda seem to be clickin'.

Tell me about this year's lineup. Who are you excited to see? Who are some bands you would recommend to definitely check out?

There's so many that I would recommend. I'm looking forward to Ray LaMontagne and Citizen Cope. Of course, Bob Weir and RatDog. Levon, everybody's excited about Levon being there. It's just a wonderful lineup.

You're co-producing the festival, yet Bob Weir's headlining the last night. How did that come about?

Gov't Mule is headlining two nights of a three-day festival and it's similar to what we did last year. Last year Phil Lesh & Friends headlined the third night and the only difference between this year and last year is that I was a member of Phil Lesh & Friends last year, too, so I wound up playing in that slot all three nights. But it's just kind of a natural way for it to happen.

You've played with Bob in the Dead. Is there going to be a collaboration onstage, even though you guys aren't there on Sunday?

I would guess, yeah. I mean, I'll be there and we usually wind up onstage together, so I don't see why this would be any different.

Are there any other collaborations that people can expect, or you're not letting the cat out of the bag about that?

Well, a little bit of both. I would say expect a lot of collaborations, but a lot of them don't take place until the day of the show. It's all about spontaneity and some really great pairings happen just standing backstage talkin'.

And that's my next question. How big of a part is improvisation at this festival?

At this festival, even more so than most, because most of these bands utilize improv as the lifeblood of their music in one way or another. Some bands on this bill are more improvisational than others, but I think most of the bands have one thing in common and that is that they don't appeal to the norm of the mainstream. They don't play the same set list every night. They don't play the songs the same way every night. And that's really a big part of what this whole scene is about is seeing some live music that's only gonna happen that particular way that particular time.

For people who aren't familiar with Mountain Jam, it's more than just music because you guys are having chiropractic adjustments, fire dancing, energy clearings. What are some of the other cool, nonmusic-related events you have scheduled?

Well, all the ones that you mentioned, obviously. The nonmusical events seem to be branching out and growing more in the same way the musical events do. I'm kinda drawing a blank on what we didn't cover, but we look at every year and think of what could be better for next year.

Last year, you expanded the festival to three days. Are there bigger changes that you made this year, or it's just a bunch of little things?

There's gonna be more late-night music. There's gonna be both indoor and outdoor late-night music. That's a big change. And then, of course, last year we upgraded to having two side-by-side stages instead of the stages being far apart. So when one band finishes, another band will start on the other stage, but the audience doesn't have to travel to see them.

Are you working on any last-minute surprises that you can share?

Yeah, at this point there will be surprises, but people aren't gonna know until they happen.

Not even you?

In some cases, not even me.

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